Beeny knows best - Week 14

Week 14 of Beeny Knows Best, where our very own Sarah Beeny takes to the blog to answer your property-related questions.

We purchased a terraced property in Watford in 2007. Since then we have had two children and the house became too small for our growing family. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to buy the size home we needed so we decided to let our property and lease a larger property for ourselves. This has worked out perfectly for a couple of years. We are now wanting to sell the house to buy our own home but the problem is after spending many hours and much of our savings renovating the house, since the tenants have been there it has certainly lost its sparkle. I feel very conscious of this when thinking about marketing the house and carrying out viewings. How is a situation like this best to handle? - Emma

There are a few options - if you get on well with them you could ask the tenants whether they would co-operate with the sale for a reduction in rent. If they were happy to spruce the place up a bit with your help and do the viewings and make sure its kept beautifully you could perhaps suggest that on a sale they would receive an extra sum of money? If you don't have that sort of relationship with them then you may have to go in yourself and give it a smarten up and make sure you do the viewings yourself to raise the energy levels yourself for potential buyers.

We've found a house we really love and want to make an offer on it. The only problem is that we are a few thousand pounds short on the asking price. What's the best way to try and negotiate on price, and be taken seriously in these negotiations? We really don't want to lose this house! - Ms Hawthorne

If you really can't afford to pay the asking price and are 100% in love with it then you should offer what you can afford. I would suggest that when you put the offer forward you include all the details such as your solicitor, the exchange date and completion date you would like to commit to. If it is meant to be you will find that they will accept, as a firm offer and sale date is better than it just sitting on the market at a higher level.

If you have a question that you'd like Sarah to answer in next week's post, email it across to info@tepilo.com with the subject line 'Beeny knows best'.

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